Snapshots
by Albion19
Summary: Gabriel wins a vacation, sees a nun and ends up on a deserted island with her. Not as cracky as it sounds. AU. Maya/Gabriel
1. Chapter 1

Gabriel stands on the small port, clutching his camera which hangs from a cord around his neck. His white buttoned up shirt has the sleeves rolled up and he shines blindingly in the sunshine. Perched on his head is a straw hat to protect him from the scorching sun, a gift from his concerned mother. He lifts it up his brow, sweat tricking down the back of his neck and he grimaces.

This really wasn't him. The climate wasn't him, the clothes weren't him, the people, the food, the fun expeditions and clubs. The list was endless and all pointing out the fact that Gabriel really, really didn't belong. But he had promised his mother to get pictures, to capture and witness the images she never would.

The people that were leading the vacationers were arguing with the ferry owners, probably about money Gabriel thought. But whatever the problem was seems to be solved because they were waving at them, smiling broadly. "All on board! Come, come!" The rope sectioning off the gang plank is removed and the crowd begins to shuffle aboard. It was a large ferry, rather rusty looking to him, that was there to take them back to the cruise liner stationed in the tropical port at Haiti. It was beautiful, all of it so exotic looking and he feels beset with guilt at his own reticent nature to throw himself into it and really enjoy it like everyone else.

He squints his eyes through his glasses as something white shines into his line of vision and with a strange jerk of the stomach he sees it's a veil. Nuns, Gabriel never liked them. His youthful memories of school was dotted with small, screechy sadistic liver spotted old women with skeletal fingers and mean eyes. After years spent in mortal fear of these women the sight of them even now sets his heart racing, his stomach churning with unease and his mouth thinning with dislike. He narrows his eyes and, as if she could sense his glare, she turns her face around.

His heart doesn't race, it stops. Smooth luminous bronzed skin, a strong jaw angled so the light gleams off the coating of sweat and he watches it bead and run down her throat. Her mouth is very full and it parts slightly, sucking in air, the corners curled down slightly and he lifts his gaze. She's seen him looking, her large black eyes focused on his and he's struck by the sadness in them. But just for a moment as he stands and stares her mouth curves up in a gentle, shy smile. Then she's turning away and the crowd swallows her up. She looked younger then him and stunningly beautiful.

As he sits and fastens his life preserver around himself and places his camera in his rucksack he feels strangely content, happy that he had seen something like that. But as he watches the cloud spiked horizon, the ferry starting to move, he suddenly wishes that he had taken a picture of her and saved that rare moment.

It was to be the most peaceful thought he would experience before the storm hit them.

*

Some time later…

There was a table in the ocean, floating towards him. That was strange enough to his frazzled mind but the nun slipping off it and sinking into the water was just to much. A freak storm had hit and the ferry had overturned. He had been lucky, when he awoke he had been floating on his back and then washed up on the beach.

Gabriel stands in the sand, the surf washing over his feet and for a couple of seconds he stands undecided before with a huge gasp he races into the water and desperately swims to where he had seen her floating. He gulps lungful after lungful of air before diving down, thanking god that the water is so clear. He can easily see her floating, her veil swept up around her face and her black skirt ballooning out around her.

Her back to him he rings his arms around her waist and begins to kick up hard but she's like a dead weight, dragging them both back down. Every time it happens he thinks about letting her go but with his lungs burning for oxygen and some furious kicks later he breaks the surface and sucks in the air, his already sore throat burning and eyes stinging.

"Swim, swim, swimswimswim." He repeats as he strokes backwards, his arm hooked around her until with shaking legs he crawls them back onto the beach and collapses, gasping. But his recovery is short lived when he sees she's still not breathing and he shakes and squeezes his hands over her, suddenly feeling sheepish and angry at himself for it. He tilts her chin up, parts her lips and then pinching her nose, presses his lips to hers and blows. Pulling back as nothing happens he laces his fingers between the other and then sets the heel of his hand under her ribcage and presses down five times, counting them aloud until she suddenly heaves, water pouring from her mouth. "Thank god!"

He turns her on her side as she coughs and splutters into the sand, trying to breathe and sounding like a whizzing rattle. Alternating between pounding and rubbing her back she seems to take in air more easily and she turns to him, looking wired. He smiles at her with amazement, dumbfounded that it was her and feeling completely shaken.

"Ah dios!" She grips her throat in her hand as she speaks with a grimace, her voice just a croak. But the relief and shock in her gaze is overwhelming as tears spill from her eyes .

But all Gabriel can do is stare at her wrists with startled eyes and she lowers her hands down into her lap quickly, her fingers lacing together hard and tight. She's wearing handcuffs.


	2. Chapter 2

"Dios te salve, Maria. Llena eres de gracia: El Señor es contigo."

She kneels facing the ocean, her hands clasped together as she prays over and over again. After he had seen the handcuffs he had sat away from her, keeping his distance. Hurt had shone from her eyes but she had nodded and then turned her back to him and began praying. That had been hours ago and the few tentative questions he had directed at her had been ignored. So she either couldn't speak English or she didn't want to speak to him.

"Maybe you're meditating, some priests do that…" his legs are crossed and before him is his rucksack. Luckily the camera appeared to be fine but even more important his cell phone was ok now. He only had to take it apart and dry it out. But his eyes never leave her, his heart rate spiking if she shifts and then settles back down again. She must be dangerous to be cuffed like that, a nun at that. God knows what she might have done, it could be anything. He shakes his head, hand in his hair. "You _are_ a nun, those mean old women were young once to…"

She remains kneeling and praying, softly and constantly. Her voice was extremely hoarse and he winces to hear it. He watches the water drip from her veil and leave dots in the white sand, the sun drying out the clothe. His own clothes were stiff and the sun beating down on him was making his head thump. He cradles it, looking down at his feet and tries to remain calm.

No need to panic or loose it, just keep together…

"Santa María, Madre d - de Dios…" He can almost hear the way her throat crackles dryly. He sighs in annoyance and digs his fingers into the sand, looking at her back, the repeat of the prayer starting to get on his nerves. But his annoyance suddenly transfers to another as his mind conjures her up.

"This is all mom's fault! I never would have come here if it wasn't for her. Those stupid little competitions she enters in magazines, I never even believed they were authentic let alone that she'd win…This was her vacation, she won this but no, of course she couldn't go, that's just unthinkable." He scowls, his voice sarcastic and biting.

"No she had to give me it, a gift to show how much she loves me. I have to be grateful, I have to be thankful and she smiles at me in that long suffering way. She didn't do this because she cares, she did this so that she can look like a good person and I should be guilty for leaving and having fun. Fun!"

He hits the sand and laughs bitterly, watching the nun but she doesn't respond as he raves at her back. He breathes in deep, calming himself and regards her with consideration. "But then if I didn't come, if my mother had gone herself, you would still be floating at the bottom of the sea. My mom can't swim."

He shakes his head as his mind takes these twists and turns with a strange bemusement, feeling a swell of pride that he saved someone's life. Saved a criminal…

"Gracias, gracias." With a startle he realises that she had turned and was looking at him with a smile.

"You - you can understand English?!" His face glows red with mortification as she nods.

"Yes. I'm sorry I didn't say anything before, I needed to calm myself, I needed to pray." She shuffles towards him and he leans back slightly, a forced smile twitching his lips and she stops, looking down at her hands. When she looks back up she appears more solemn, eyes preaching. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"I know! I mean I wasn't saying that you…" He trails off, face growing even more heated and she suddenly laughs at him which only makes him feel even more humiliated. She sighs and settles down into the sand, crossing her legs together like his. He sees that her stockings are ripped to shreds and he looks away quickly as she smoothes her skirt over her knees. She swallows and looks at him hopefully but he stares at her nonplussed.

"…Water, do you have any?"

"Oh, yeah sorry!" He pulls his water bottle out of his bag, unscrews the cap and then hands it to her. "I didn't even think…" As she drinks gratefully he watches the muscles of her throat moving with every gulp and then further down her body. She's wearing a dark grey dress made from some scratchy looking material, buttons down the middle and it stretches snugly across her ample chest.

Only when the bottle is under his nose does he jerk back and look up. She's staring at him shyly, biting her lip and he grabs the bottle from her hastily. Moving back from her again he's relieved to see that she keeps her place. A silence stretches and he tries to think of something to say.

"What is you name?" Her voice is smoother but it still sounds husky. Maybe that was what she naturally sounds like.

He hesitates as his lips part, looking at her sharply but answers tentatively. "Gabriel." Even though he feels uneasy with her being there the sudden pleasure shinning out of her face sends a sparkle into the pit of his tummy and he looks on pleased.

"Oh that's a nice name." She nods, still smiling.

Gabriel waits for her to say what her name is but she never does, she just sits quietly. Of course she wouldn't tell him her name, she's a criminal, wanted and now a fugitive even if she didn't intend to be. Probably best that he does -

"Maya, my name is Maya." She tilts her head at him but her gaze is far away.

*

"I restore timepieces - watches and the like." They are seated together but still with that cautious distance on his part. It was very strange having to talk about himself but she seems enthralled, hanging on his every word. There was something sweet about her he thinks, almost childlike and he savours it. Even if she unnerves him.

"So you're um -" she makes a twisting motion with her hands, fingers pinched together "you're good at fixing things? Or only watches?"

He shakes his head, smiling. "No I can pretty much fix anything. If I know the mechanism then - yeah I can fix it." He hides his sense of self congratulation from her but he swells with it internally. His eyes are drawn down to her wrists yet again, noting that the skin around the cuffs are red and sore looking. She must have tried to pull them off as the ferry went down.

He speaks without care as he looks carefully at the metal links. "Like watches handcuffs have gears and wheels. In timepieces you have a wheel with small teeth and then a click that keeps the wheel moving in one direction. There's a click in them to - a pawl actually - and all you have to do is lift it and it releases the ratchet to move it backwards." He looks up at her with a smile, feeling very much at home with this talk. But the look on her face fouls his good mood.

Maya stares at him significantly and she lifts her hands up, offering her wrists and looks at him beseechingly. "Please, please Gabriel?"

"What?" A nervous smile curls his mouth and he stands. When she follows him up he takes a step back from her.

"You can set me free, you just said you would." She comes closer to him, supplicating.

"No, I said I was able to do it, I never said I would." He stares at her hard, shaking his head "I can't do that, you're in those things for a reason, I can't just take them off."

"Why?!"

"Because I'd get in trouble!" He shouts at her and then quickly draws back as her eyes widen.

"Get in trouble with who? There's no one here!"

He tilts his head and almost rolls his eyes. "Because they're coming to get me. I called the cruise liner and they're sending someone right now. They should be here by morning." He wasn't to pleased about _that_ but it was better then no rescue at all. Maya's chest starts to heave and her eyes well with tears before she's suddenly hitting his chest with her fists.

"You should have told me! You've got to get these things off me! Now!" Her fingers dig into his chest as she forces herself closer to him and he grips her wrist above the cuffs, pushing her away.

"Look! I'm sorry ok? I just can't do that, you were being taken away to prison, you said so yourself. Please understand?" She stops struggling but her eyes feverishly twitch between his and then she's sinking down against him and he releases her hands. He awkwardly pats her back as she cries into his chest until his arms rest around her and he stands stiff but tries to offer her something.

"I know I deserve to be locked away, I know but I'm so scared. I thought I would be safe, they wouldn't find me." She looks up into his face, her tears drying on her cheeks. "But then this, of all the things to happen. I was separated from them. God has given me another chance." Her eyes shine so brightly and he feels his stomach turn over because there's something crazy in her eyes. Or maybe she's just terrified.

He sinks down onto the sand and she goes with him. Stroking his hand down her veil momentarily he rises again and leaves her seated as he prepares to light the fire that he had prepared as soon as he had finished making the call for rescue. For someone that was all but a recluse he had to admit to himself he was quite resilient when put to the test. Reading all those books definitely paid off.

"This is my last night…" He looks up and sees that she's pulling her veil off and lets if fall to reveal a dark wild length of hair. He looks back down and his self bravado punctures at her expression of sad wistfulness.

*************************

Translation (full):

Hail Mary, full of grace, the LORD is with thee, blessed are you amoung all women and blessed is the fruit of your whomb, Jesus, Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and in the hour of our death.


	3. Chapter 3

"Scuba-diving?"

"No."

"Um…snorkelling?" Maya stands before him, hips swaying as she speaks, hair spilled around her shoulders. He has the impression she doesn't even know she's doing it. Gabriel smiles at her inquiries but feels so stupid responding.

"Nope, I didn't do any of those things."

"But you're on vacation! For _free_!" She gestures with her bonded hands, eyes wide.

"I'm just boring." He shrugs with a shy smile and she tilts her head at him, her features softening as he fiddles with his camera.

She falls to her knees, looking at it. "I live here and I've never done those things." He looks up as she laughs and he feels his spirits lift. She nods to the camera "What did you take pictures of?"

"Oh lots of things." He circles his thumb against the safety cap over the lens and then flicks his eyes up to her. They had been together for hours now and his unease over the handcuffs had faded, not enough to release her, he wasn't that careless. But he feels ok having her close.

"And how many of them are of you?" She taps the camera and he widens his eyes.

"None, it's just the places I've been to."

"None of you and no one else, right Gabriel?" That soft look deepens as she regards him and he feels his breath catching and looks down again. When her gentle fingertips brush down his cheek he jerks up and stares at her. As he does she slips the camera out of his hands and points it towards him. He backs away, shaking his head with a nervous smile.

"Oh no, you don't wanna do that. I'm not photogenic."

She clicks her tongue, scolding and pops the cap off, twisting her hands around. "Don't say that! You're very…" She stalls, looking for the word before snapping her fingers, "swarthy!"

Gabriel's eyes widens and he snorts, chuckling at her. "Yeah right, it's just a tan…"

"Say cheese" She lifts it up to her face and his smile falls, reaching towards her.

"Maya, don't." She leans back as he comes closer, reaching for the camera and when he's almost on top of her the shutter sounds.

"To late."

*

She was sitting towards the ocean, the light starting to fade around them. Gabriel rubs his hands on his pants as the fire starts to crackle into life and once it was steadily burning he sits back down to regard her.

Maya could feel his gaze and she smiles, tilting her head down. He was a sweet man, if very uptight. But she couldn't blame him. She had asked him question after question, gathering an image of him and his place in the world. She could probably find the street he worked on now.

"You seem calm. I wouldn't be…"

"In my place?" Maya tilts her face towards him and he nods, that nervous smile on his lips. Maya looks away and stares into the fire.

"I'm terrified. I don't want to think about tomorrow…I thought when I was on the boat that was it, I was captured. So I'm glad I have been given this." She nods to herself, lost in thought and she settles her cheek onto her knees.

"I wanted to take a picture of you on the boat." He says this quickly and she doesn't have to see him to know he's blushing. Maya grins and shuffles around to him.

"I saw you looking."

"I've never seen anything like you before." He stares at her with wonder before looking down between his crossed legs shyly and she feels a bubbling within her tummy, her chest suddenly constricting. Maya straightens her back and rises her chin, pulling her shoulders back.

"Go on then, take it."

"What?" His head shoots up but she can see the excitement in his eyes.

"Take me…" She can feel a juvenile giggle bubbling up within her but she squashes it along with her shyness. She will never experience anything like this again. And neither would he she suspected. She regards him seriously and after hesitating he brings the camera up and takes the picture.

*

There was something perverse about what they were doing and yet it was wonderful. He couldn't explain it but he was inexplicably happy when really there was no reason to be. He was marooned on an island with a woman in handcuffs. And yet…

He couldn't stop taking picture after picture of her. She would pose for him, looking sad and pensive or silly and giggly but never sultry. It made what he was doing less suspect but those handcuffs just put a suspicious light over everything, no matter how many funny faces she pulls.

"Who are you going back home to Gabriel?" She's lying down, the veil he had folded and placed under her head cushioning her from the sand. He sits at her feet, the fire the only source of light now.

"Um my mother I guess." He looks down at the camera. Only three left.

"No one else?" Her barefoot touches his knee and he shivers. He crawls closer to her and the fire.

"No, that's it." She stares up at him sadly and he can't look away from her, mesmerised by the way the shadows cast by the fire play over her face and hair. He picks softly at the strands lying in the sand and suddenly brightens "My goldfish?" Her eyes widen comically and she laughs loudly which makes him grin hard. "You're easily amused."

"That's sweet Gabriel." Maya bites her lip and breathes in deeply. He starts to shiver again and she stares at him significantly. After minutes of sitting and shuddering he quickly lies down beside her and she smiles warmly.

*

He pats her arm awkwardly as she cries softly next to him. Just when he thinks she'll stop another sob will shudder from her mouth and he feels himself heating with agitation.

"It's ok, it's ok…I thought you were trying to put up a brave face?" It sounds like something his mother would say but he didn't know what else to do. Maya just continues crying, inching closer to his side and he grips her arm as she lays her head down against his shoulder. She mutters something in Spanish but really he didn't need to know what she was saying. He couldn't imagine how he would feel knowing that in the morning he would never be free again. He makes soft shushing noises as he strokes her hair and looks up at the stars and looses the sound of her weeping.

"Are you a bad person if you _think _that you want someone to die?" The sound of her voice pulls him back from the edge of sleep and he looks down at her. She's stopped crying, her voice now filled with a guttural huskiness. Gabriel looks back up at the sky and remains silent as he considers. When he does speak his voice is low and slow, careful.

"I think it depends. Thinking something doesn't hurt anybody but maybe if you continue to think it then that's when it becomes dangerous." He keeps his eyes fixed above but his expression is introspective. "It depends."

"On what?" She lifts herself up, her chained hands on his chest and looks into his eyes. He looks at her intensely.

"On whether they deserve to be thought of like that. You're not a bad person if it's justified." He lifts his hand towards her face and pushes back her hair from her cheek as she stares at him and he thinks he sees something in her eyes shift, some realisation. She leans on top of him and he can feel the soft weight of her breasts pressing against his chest. It makes him feel warm with comfort instead of embarrassment.

"I want to go home with you Gabriel." They regard each other with deeply serious faces and the air becomes densely tense and charged. But then his eyes flicker and he snorts in disbelief, laughs and looks away from her. Maya lets her eyes linger on his nervous face and sucks in her bottom lip, biting it as her whole body lurches.

Gabriel can feel the heat of her breath against his cheek, the shift of her body as she moves up against his chest but he can't look towards her, his heart beating in his ears. She whispers his name as her fingers brush his chin and his eyes finally flick down to hers as she presses her soft lips against his. Her eyes close and he can feel the gentle feather brush of her lashes against his skin. He knows he should close his eyes but he can't, he feels like his whole body has been shocked into stone.

She increases the pressure of her mouth, the pressure of her body before she pulls back and it's only then he closes his eyes and breathes again. He licks his lips, sucking on them for her taste as she curls down around him again, whispering humiliated apologies with pained eyes and he shudders under her. His whole being roaring with heat he wraps her in his arms and holds her tightly. She twists in his hold, turning her back so that she fits against his front and he gathers her up again.

"Maya?"

"Goodnight Gabriel, goodnight…"

He stares into her hair with feverish eyes and the hands ringing her body grasp and knead as she forces herself into sleep.

*

Months later...

He sits within his shop and ritualistically looks through the photographs. He glides his finger over her features, smiling in remembrance. But his face falls as he comes to the last one and he lays it down and sits back, face anguished.

It was of her again but this time asleep, her hair swept back from her face and the naked curve of her shoulder and the swell of her breast catches the light of the sun that had started to rise. He had kissed the back of her neck as he had released her from the cuffs while she slept. All night he had battled with himself to do it and once finally done he had fallen to sleep, strangely calm.

When he had awoke all that was left of her was the veil and handcuffs. She had disappeared before the rescue boat had arrived and he had quickly hid the evidence of her ever being there. He had come home to his mother who had ill disguised her excitement with concern and some two bit reporters.

He hadn't told them about Maya.

Sometimes he doesn't like to look at them, sometimes he grips them in his hands and twists. Because they are evidence of everything Gabriel despises about himself. The pictures reminds him of the miraculous chance he was given to be different, to connect to this woman.

Instead he had hidden behind his camera and his fear. He set her free, that should have changed things but by then it was to late. He wishes constantly that he had kissed her back at that time and not laughed in her face.

He wishes he hadn't taken her like that.


End file.
